The Logo-Mat Blog: September 2011

Sep 29, 2011

Yesterday

I drank one of those five hour energy drinks, but it really felt more like a five hour angry drink. I felt anxious and restless all afternoon. I was easily aggravated, etc. So I took the dog for a walk in the evening. On our way back home I spotted an old man wearing mechanic/work slacks, no shirt, with an old-school tattoo on his bicep, crouched down at the side of his house.
The old man was petting a squirrel, that was sitting on a bench. We stopped and all I could say (with my sub-par social skills) was "Well...that's cool". The old man proceeded to tell me that he raised her from a baby, she now lives about a block away, and she's had two litters of baby squirrels. Amazed, I said "have a good night", and as the dog and I walked away, he leaned in and gave the little red-haired squirrel a kiss on the head. I no longer felt angry, anxious or aggravated. In fact, even today if work gets on my nerves or I start to feel stressed- I just think about that old man kissing the squirrel and everything seems okay.

Sep 28, 2011

Skate Life of George

Go build something with your Legos...

Wow

Good news for guys like me...

HP's Logoworks is calling it quits. I'm not sure why, don't care why, just happy about it in general. Consider them the McDonald's of logo design. Hopefully this starts the demise of crowdsourcing, and big corporations having their hand in the freelancer's cookie jar. HP's statement is here

Sep 27, 2011

I would like these

Too bad they're $750! Do I know anyone crafty enough to make them?

Take a Break!

...and play on this site for awhile.

Sep 26, 2011

Busy

...working on this fun logo today!

Sep 25, 2011

Upgrade

We traded in our 2007 Mazda 5 for a 2011 Mazda CX-9. Although the wait at the dealership was tedious, it's excellent to have a new ride and the peace of mind that comes along with it. If you're looking at cars anytime soon, consider the Mazdas, my family has been very impressed thus far (zoom zoom).

Sep 23, 2011

Recreating

...a logo, from a photo of an actual sign, which is actually a very relaxing way to spend a Friday afternoon.

Happy Friday, This is amazing...

Funny to me

See more past/future logos here.

Sep 21, 2011

So Awesome!

Sep 20, 2011

LARP

LARP intrigues me. Read more here. Although, I'll probably never participate, I know that at heart, I am a level 12 troll warrior, with a tough sidekick...

The Most Patriotic Thing You Can Do

"Bust your ass and get rich."
...says Mark Cuban

"Make a boatload of money. Pay your taxes. Lots of taxes. Hire people. Train people. Pay people. Spend money on rent, equipment, services. Pay more taxes. When you make a shitload of money, do something positive with it. If you are smart enough to make it, you will be smart enough to know where to put it to work. I don’t care what anyone says. Being rich is a good thing."

Please keep in mind that I am not a political type of person, I don't even know who Mark Cuban is, but I can back this theory. I'm starting to get sick of an ongoing hipster mentality that "money is bad". Look, I know $$$ does not equal happiness, but in the words of my dear Dad "it solves a lot of problems". Not just personal problems, but for the country as a whole. It's what the U.S is based on, integrity, hard work, industry, invention, creativity, etc. The American dream. Read the full post here.

Sep 19, 2011

Sep 18, 2011

Published

A dress form illustration I created for one of my most favorite clients, made it in her local paper. Very interesting to watch startup business grow from their conception...

Sep 16, 2011

TGIF!

Buy me this for my birthday.

Sep 15, 2011

A new favorite...

Sep 14, 2011

Three bits of business advice that can be ignored.

I used to share an office with a "consultant" and could never wrap my mind around what she actually did, or where her experience (if any) came from. Seems like people wasted money on her services, when they could have just gone with gut instinct. This article: Three Bits Of Advice Entrepreneurs Should Ignore! kind of reinforces my theory by calling out these (possible unnecessary) business development steps:

1. Write a thorough business plan to start
2. Talk to mentors
3. Find investors

Now, I understand there's a time and a place for everything. Maybe I'm just a minimalist at heart?

On The Logo-Mat radio...

Sep 12, 2011

Pumpkin Beer!

Love it, or leave it. I love, adore and cherish it. Check out this Ultimate Guide to the great punkin' libations and see if your local brewery made the Huffington Post's extensive list.

Polishing up the web design portfolio...

Just finished up this site, for an excellent client: DecorativeTouchSTL.com using Joomla 1.6. Later today I'll be registering the site with Google, etc. and will eventually add some type of Flash or slideshow to display their fantastic residential & commercial work.
Looking to take on my next web design project if anyone is interested, I'm mainly focusing on informational/online brochure types of sites (no shopping carts or ecommerce):

R.I.P.

We recently had a death in the family. Our trusty Powerbook G4 found it's place in laptop heaven last week. It had been trooper through these past few years. After several hard drive transplants, the G4 saw it's last website on September 3rd, 2011 around 8:00 pm. Left survived are siblings G5 & Macbook Pro. However, The G4's replacement (first gen. iPad) seems to be adjusting well to its new home.

Sep 9, 2011

Illustrating....

Shotgun shells- second hunting logo this week!

This week

I've unintentionally expanded my music appreciation, and really like listening to these guys while working:

Sep 8, 2011

So What

If this doesn't put you in a good mood, nothing will!

Sep 7, 2011

Ben & Jerry Introduce Schweddy Balls Ice Cream?

Is this true?

"The flavor is made up of vanilla ice cream with a hint of rum and is loaded with fudge covered rum balls and milk chocolate malt balls. It'll be available for a limited time in about 30 percent of stores that carry Ben & Jerry's ice cream."